NASCAR CUP SERIES
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY TRANSCRIPT
MAY 24, 2025
Richard Childress, owner of Richard Childress Racing, and Kyle Busch met with the media onsite at Charlotte Motor Speedway to announce that Busch will return to the No. 8 Chevrolet for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Press Conference Quotes:
Richard, have any comments for the group?
“Yeah, we’re really excited. You know, this is extending our contract for another year, and we’re really excited. Kyle has been great to work with. Everybody had questions going in. I love a driver that doesn’t like to lose. We’ve worked hard. We’ve got some exciting things coming up. He and I are both alike in one area – that we don’t like to lose. We want to win races. I still think Kyle will win him a championship, and we’re going to have it at RCR. That’s our plans. We’ve got a lot of new things coming. This car is a lot different. It’s so engineer-driven that we’re stepping our engineering up more. And I’m excited about the future of where we can go. Watching Kyle race and working with him, it’s been a great pleasure. You know, he’s a champion. Here’s the guy that’s won over 200 NASCAR races. His career is not even close to being over.”
Kyle, do you have any comments?
“Yeah, certainly. I really want to give thanks to Richard and Judy (Childress) and everyone at RCR for another opportunity to be able to go back and drive the 8 car for next season. Certainly echo Richard’s statements that there’s a lot of things happening behind the scenes. It’s a great place to be, a great place to work, a great atmosphere, and a lot of grit and determination with a lot of people up there in Welcome, North Carolina. We have certainly had our battles. It’s been fun, but yet challenging. It definitely isn’t easy. This sport is very, very tough, very, very close and challenging. Being able to score those wins and compete for those each and every week… we know those areas in which we can improve both behind the wheel, on pit road, in engineering, all of the above. This is just the pinnacle of that, and I hope to continue to build on our successes that we’ve been working towards for the last two years.”
How hard have you been working specifically at RCR, whether it be at the shop, behind the wheel simulator, things like that? What’s some of the stuff that you’ve been doing as a driver last season to try to find a little bit of extra speed to try to find that missing piece to finally get back in Victory Lane?
“Yeah, I think the speed has been there. More and more we continue to work on that and get that closer to where it’s consistent speed. I feel like there’s times in the race where we do have top speed, but it’s not the whole race. So we’ve got to work on beginning to end and being able to put everything together. So that’s a big part of what you see. A lot of these guys that are winning right now … they’re just good from start to finish. So that’s a big piece of what we’re doing.
As far as the workload, the workload has never been higher. That’s for sure. There’s a lot going on, whether it’s team meetings or meetings with upper management, things like that. Obviously, each week we do our driver debriefs. Each week we’re in the simulator, whether it’s for GM or whether it’s for ourselves and our own race team and trying to factor in much of the simulation and making that better. I would love to be up at the shop a little bit more, I will say, and to be honest that I’m not there as much as I’d like to be. Maybe there’s a step in that time frame that I can work that into my calendar.”
And also to Richard, what’s some of the stuff that you’ve been overseeing that you’ve seen improvements in to get more speed week in, week out with Kyle and Austin (Dillon)?
“I’ll just echo everything he said. We’ve got a lot going on. The small details on these cars mean so much. That’s where we’ve got to work more and more and concentrate on those small details. Everything’s so close that the small details make the difference. That’s one of the areas we’re working on.”
Is this just picking up the option or is this an extension?
“It’s picking up the option for 2026.”
Richard, you talk about bringing in engineering and doing certain things. And when we talk to Kyle week in and week out, it just sounds from his perspective that the car is not doing what he’s used to having cars do. He needs the car to perform at a higher level for him to get what he needs out of the car. And I’m just wondering, how do you do that from behind the scenes?
“Well, it all boils down to the drivers having their own feel. And we’re working hard to get that feel. The first year, we won three races right out of the bat. We’ve changed a little in our engineering and I think that bit us just a little. But he’s right. We’ve got to get the car the feel that he wants. These cars are different. And once we get that feel he wants, it’s going to be Katie Bar the Door.”
You mentioned the option. Has there been conversation about maybe something that’s passed in 2026, and where do those things stand?
Richard Childress: “We always wait until we get started the following year, or maybe later this year we’ll be discussing the future. There’s a big future there for Kyle.”
Kyle, you get asked this a lot, but is retirement or when that retirement date has started creeping at all about setting in?
“No, no, not at all. There’s kind of the vision or the plan, if you will, on being able to race in some Truck races with Brexton alongside him. So obviously, that’s six years from now before he can make that start. That would sort of be an idea of when I would look at stepping aside from Cup Series racing. But, you know, it’s a long ways out.”
Kyle, for you, why does this make sense now from your perspective? You’ve mentioned the work going on behind the scenes. What have you seen over the last few years here, and particularly over the offseason and all the changes that have been made behind the scenes that tells you this is all worth it and this is the right place to be for you through 2026?
“Well, I think I give a lot of credit to Richard and him believing in me and giving me the opportunity to be able to come over here and have a chance to drive his car. So, for me, rewarding him with that and having the success on the racetrack is paramount. When I first joined, I feel like there were some things that we were doing within the rules at that time that got us some extra speed, and then there was definitely some things that kind of came down that they didn’t like us doing, and so that’s sort of where we’ve lost a little bit, if people are wondering why have we not been able to win like we did in the first 16 races. It’s just a matter of being able to continue to work with the people that are there. It’s a great culture. I enjoy working there, I fit in well there, they enjoy having me there. I will say Austin’s been a fantastic teammate. His demeanor and the way that we’re able to work together, we talk a lot about the same things and describe it in much of the same fashions. But he’s been a really good resource to rely on as well too, so it’s good to have a teammate factor that helps keep you there.”
Kyle, you just sort of touched on it. It feels from the outside looking in that this is a really good match where if you get in a tough spot, this is a team that your owner will take off his watch to back you up. Have you had that kind of comfort that this team is truly behind you?
“Absolutely. It is a place where I enjoy working with those that are there that I get to work around each and every week, the race team guys and stuff like that. It’s definitely not due to lack of effort, I will say that. There may be some things where we can be a little bit better on here or there, a little bit smarter on here or there. Sometimes it’s not work harder but work smarter, and so we’re definitely finding some of those key points.
We had some turning points last season. At Nashville, I remember being a distinct turning point, and then after the summer break being another one that we’ve been able to come out of those a bit stronger, and so we’re continuing to build on those.”
There’s a great chance that a number of drivers may be able to make the playoff on points, given how many winners we have at this point, looking at the history of this. How do you feel about being able to break into the top 16 in points? Is that a focus as well as trying to win?
“Yeah. We have to be better at stage racing, stage points, gathering stage points. Stage one, stage two, we have to be able to. That’s our weak spot, if there is one that we can certainly pinpoint. You look at the top guys that are at the top of the standings, they’ve got 160 to 180 points, I think, for stage points. I think we’re in the 20s or 30s. Those are 100-point swings plus. If we had 100 points from being able to score points in stages,
we’d be eighth in points right now, I think, somewhere in there. So we wouldn’t even be talking about the bubble. So we definitely got to focus more on that, be able to hit on that.”
There was a time when I would have thought you didn’t have the patience to help build a team because you wanted to win right away. And yet, you’re the guy people would want there to help build a team. Does Brexton (Busch) figure into any of this looking at staying at Richard Childress Racing? And have you gained now the patience, I guess, to help build this team?
“No, I haven’t been Brexton’s agent on negotiating terms for him quite yet. He’s 10 years old. But I will say, and I’m grateful to the fact of Richard and all of our partners that we do have at RCR, that many of them do take an interest in him and see an interest in him. Most notably, Lucas Oil is a part of his racing and stuff. And Morgan & Morgan has picked up on that and put him in a commercial. So, those are really unique situations. Cheddar’s as well, too, helps out on his racing. So, those are really unique situations where those partners are really happy and pleased with him and what he’s doing off the racetrack, so it helps our budget a little bit with his racing, so I’m grateful to that fact.”
And Richard, do you see Brexton as someone, ‘I keep Kyle, Kyle helps build the team, Brexton comes along,’… he certainly is doing well.
“Yeah, he is, and I did sign him to a contract, a $100 bill when we signed up with Kyle. So I’ve watched him race some and watched him on some of the YouTube stuff or different things that somebody had sent me. I congratulated him when he won the championship in Florida. I texted him and congratulated him on that, and watched him run over at Mill Bridge, he’s a real deal, like this one (his dad).”
For Richard, with Amazon Prime releasing the Earnhardt docu-series, what’s it been like for you to see it come to life?
“I haven’t seen it yet. I did about a five-hour deal with them. Everyone that I’ve spoken to thinks it’s great.
I haven’t seen it. I’ll be watching it. But it’s great to keep his image alive, letting people know the history, going back in time. I think it’s great to have them put out this documentary. I think this is the third one.”
For Kyle. Just looking forward to Nashville next week, how do you think the racing has evolved there since we started going in 2021?
“I think the racing in Nashville has been really good. I remember years ago, a long time back in the Xfinity days, it was a one-groove racetrack around the bottom of the racetrack. It wasn’t really conducive to a whole lot of side-by-side racing and whatnot. But the last few years it’s really been good there. The track really widens out. There’s guys that are running all the way up at the top groove. So it’s been a good show. So hopefully the fans enjoy it. I hope it’s not too hot next week. Perfect weather here this weekend in Charlotte. So I look forward to Nashville.”
Kyle, obviously you’ve won a lot in your career, and this is probably the only wall you’ve had. Has this been humbling at all? And when you do win again, I imagine that Richard Childress Racing is going to have one heck of a party.
“Yeah, absolutely. We certainly have a winery and a champagne bistro there that we can get plenty of booze to have a good time. I’m excited for the next win when it is. We want to get back to that as soon as possible. It has been a little bit humbling, I would say. I feel like there’s added times where it’s motivation, and it gets you to have that itch of being able to want to get back to Victory Lane and to work as hard as it possibly needs to be. Trust me, my wife, she sees that as well, too, where I’m gone a little bit more than what I was, and so she’s on the fact of this better be worth it!”
Richard, with everything that you’ve done throughout your career, you’ve earned every right to take a vacation for a very long time and not be at the track. Why are you still here? Why are you, why does this matter? You talk about hope to be here in 10 years, but why is this still so important?
“Good question, but I think the thing that drives me the hardest is wanting to win that next championship, wanting to win races, and that’s what I’ve always done. I love the race fans. I love what we do. I even love the media believe it or not. No, it’s just me. I wouldn’t know what to do. You can’t hunt for so much. You can’t fish for so much. So I enjoy this. I enjoy every bit of it.”
Is there more pressure to get things done? I know in the sport it’s always you can’t get done fast enough. Is there more internal pressure when you get it done?
“I wouldn’t call it pressure, but I call it a drive to win. I felt like we let (Kyle) down some last year by not winning a race. There’s things that we’ve changed a lot to try to win. We will win a race this year with him and hopefully Austin as well. We’re working really hard. Like he said, he hit the key point. You’ve got to work smarter, and that’s what we’re trying to do. And I think we’ve got a lot of good things going.”
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